Necticut



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS NECTICUT.

COMPANY, OF NE\V HAVEN, CON- MAGAZINE-GUN.

1 1 SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 368,130, dated August 9, 1887.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HOWARD CARR, of the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, have invented an Improvement in Magazine-Guns; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to certain improvements in magazine-guns.

It consists, mainly, of a carrier by which the cartridges are transferred from the magazine to the barrel of the gun, this carrier being so constructed that cartridges of various lengths may be used in the gun without change of any portion of the mechanism.

Referring to the accompanying drawings for a more complete explanation of my invention, Figure 1 is a vertical section taken through the breech and the magazine, showing the relative position of the barrel of the magazine and the carrier-block. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the carrier-block. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the same.

My device is intended to be used in guns of any description; and its object is to allow the use of cartridges of variouslengths in the same gun, the same carrier-block and loading mechanism serving for short or long cartridges.

.A is the carrierblock, which in the present case I have shown adapted to move vertically in a chamber situated at the rear of the barrel B of the gun, being moved by suitable operating mechanism, and the magazine C, I have shown as situated beneath the barrel. Cartridges placed within this magazine are pressed backward by a spring in the forward part of the magazine, and the carrier-block, when depressed to a point opposite the magazine, receives a cartridge, which it raises to a point in line with the barrel when it is elevated. The carrier is made of a length sufficient to receive the longest cartridge which may be used; and it will be manifest that when shortercartridges are used, if some means is not employed to prevent it, the spring of the magazine would force the cartridge so far back into the carrier that it would allow a portion of another cartridge to also enter. To prevent this I form the carrier with a longitudinal chamber, into which the cartridge is received from the magazine, and upon the front vertical edges of the carrier are wings D, which project inwardly toward a vertical central line so far that while they will admit the body of a cartridge they will prevent the head from passing between them.

The lower part of the carrier has an inclined or beveled channel commencing flush with and at or near the bottom and deepening sufficiently so that when the head of the cartridge rests in this channel, (being held there by the spring of the magazine,) if the carrier is moved downward, the head of the cartridge will follow the incline, so that it passes behind the wings D, previously described; and when the carrier has been depressed to the proper point the cartridge will then enter the chamber in the carrier which was made to receive it, being pressed backward into the chamber by the action of the cartridge which is in the magazinc in front of it. This cartridge will follow the one in the carrier back until its base rests against the wings D, before described, when it will be arrested. It will be manifest from this construction that the cartridge within the carrier may be of any length less than that of the carrier-such as one-fourth, one-half, twothirds, or other proportionand that it will not be forced back so as to allow any portion of another cartridge to enter the chamber in the carrier on account of the wings before described.

\Vhen the carrier is raised, it will bring the cartridge opposite the barrel of the gun, and it may then be forced into the barrel by the follower in the usual or any suitable manner, it being understood that the wingsDare beveled from their edge backward to permit the head of the cartridge to readily escape to a position beyond their front face, the bevel not specially shown. As the carrier is raised,the wings D prevent the next cartridge in the magazine from being forced into the carrier, and when the carrier has been raised so high as to bring the lower ends of the wings above the line of the magazine the next cartridge in the magazine will be pressed against the lower edge of the carrier in readiness to follow up the inclined channel, so that its head will pass behind the wings when the carrier is again depressed. These wings may be formed with the carrier or attached thereto,' as may be most satisfactory. In the present case I have shown them made of thin elastic metal bolted in depressions on the sides of the carrier and extending forward, having the front edges bent so as to form the wings before described. By bolting the rear ends of these plates the front ends will be sufficiently elastic to yield, if it should happen that a cartridge were presented in which the head was of extraordinary thickness, or with any other defect which would make it necessary for the wings to yield, in order to allow it to pass from the magazine to the carrier.

If desired, a spring-stop may be formed to project through the side of the carrier at a point which will be behind the longest eartridge that is to be used. In the present case I have shown this stop formed, as shown at E, by slitting one of the elastic plates on the side of the carrier, so as to form a narrow strip at the upper portion, which is then bent'inward through a corresponding opening in the side of the carrier, which allows its inwardly-bent portion to project into the chamber in which the cartridge lies within the carrier.

It will be manifest that slight mechanical variations may be made of this construction without essentially altering the character of the invention, and that the carrier-block may be made of any desired or suitable length without reference to the length of the cartridge which is to be used, except that its chamber must be as long as the longest cartridge to be employed, and no stop or plate will be necessary at the rear end, as the action of the spring in the magazine will not force more than one cartridge into the carrier on account of the wings before deseribed,against which the head of the following cartridge will be arrested.

Having thus described my invention, what I elaimas new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

between them,

1. In a magazine fire-arm having the magazine arranged below the barrel, with a carrier in rear of the magazine constructed with a chamber to receive a cartridge from the magazine, the said carrier provided with wings at 'its forward end extending inward to partially cover the forward end of said cartridge-chamher, the distance between the said wings being less than the diameter of the cartridge-head, substantially as described, and whereby said wings permit the body of one cartridge to pass but serve as stops for the next cartridge.

2. The carrier having vertical wings or stops upon each side of the front end of the chamber,

' and the inclined groove or channel through which the head of the cartridge may pass behind the wings as the carrier is depressed, substantially as herein described.

3. The carrier having the chamber for the reception of a cartridge, an inclined groove or channel extending upward from the bottom front edge and deepening as it approaches the chamber, in combination with wings or stops projecting inwardly from the sides, so as to admit the body of the cartridge and arrest the head of the following one, substantially as herein described.

4. The carrier having the cartridge-chamber and the inclined groove or channel in the front of the carrier, in combination with the elastic wings or stops at the front of the carrier, substantially as herein described.

5. The carrier having the horizontal cartridge-chamber, the vertical inclined groove or channel, and the wings or stops, as shown, in combination with a spring or elastic stop at the rear of the chamber, substantially as herein described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

HOWARD CARR.

Witnesses:

S. H. NoURsE, H. 0. LEE. 

